Lewis in limbo

Tottenham midfielder Lewis Holtby was sent out to Fulham on loan during the January transfer window in an effort to get more game time and to see if he could keep the Cottagers in the Premiership. The first part of that mission was accomplished but Felix Magath’s side dropped into the Championship on Saturday, thereby ruling out any possibility of a permanent move to Craven Cottage.

According to the Evening Standard, Holtby is now waiting on Spurs amidst reports that his representatives are seeking a meeting with the club. Only last month, the player stated that his preferred option was to remain at White Hart Lane.

“I loved playing for Tottenham and I would like to fulfil my contract there. But at first it is important to avoid relegation with Fulham,” Holtby told Goal.com.

“I will only think about stuff when the time comes to think about it.”

That time is now but should Lewis Holtby walk back into Tottenham’s set up and was it a mistake to send him out on loan in the first place?

20 COMMENTS

He’s got a great attitude, and played well in the Europa League with excellent through balls and energy. Translating that to the Premiership is hard though, although he had some good games/assists for Fulham. At the moment I’d say squad but first choice in the Europa team.

Now before eveyone jumps in to slate akshayaalase I kinda get what he means although it’s badly phrased. Holtby isn’t better than Erikssen but he is different. He shows much more energy in central midfield then Erikssen although Erikksen’s final product is clearly far more polished. My personal feeling is that Holtby may have worked better in a 4-4-1-1 with Erikssen playing just off Adebayor and Holtby in midfield with a genuine holding player (Sandro/Capoue). I would also use 2 genuine wingers (Lennon and Townsend my preferred options). This would essentially give us the set up we played most with under Harry with Erikssen replacing VDV and Holtby replacing Modric. I personally think Erikssen is as good as VDV, Holtby could potentially grow into as good a player as Modric but for now if he can at least pass decisively out of defence and unleash the pace of Lennon and Townsend then that would work for the moment (and he could be replaced with Paulinho/Dembele to provide a more “direct” central midfield option but the point is to make all 3 players compete for that place (after giving them clear instructions about what you want them to do – Holtby for me is not a good a ball carrier as either Dembele or Paulinho [although Paulinho for me has question marks all over him as to his effectiveness in this particular team] so should be instructed to look for players in space constantly and to look to move the ball forward quickly). One final thing is that the idea of pushing forward both full backs is in my opinion a mistake. Danny Rose doesn’t have the experience to play this way and would be much better as a left back who counter attacks but apart from that holds his position [same for Naughton and to be honest Walker although Walker’s pace does get him out of a lot of problems he creates by bad positioning]. This would then leave more room for the wingers to attack the opposition, when the FBs push up it automatically means that the opposition midfielders drop back compressing the space which quick players need in order to get a yard of space. And the very, very last thing is that I saw an interview with David Ginola where he said he’d love to work with Townsend to improve his final product – we should bit his hand off. I saw a DVD of the 11/12 season and Townsend’s performances in the Europa league – constantly had his head up looking for a pass and that made him 10 times more effective as his pace caused defences to double up on him leaving space open for a pass inside!

That’s it for me – looking forward to next season hopefully under De Boer – if for no other reason than he’s likely to command enough respect to be given time to build something. Pochetino would, I fear just be another Juande Ramos – if he doesn’t get results straight away he’s out!

WHAT?! That team includes TEN new players and several very weird inclusions from the current crop. Holtby, Lamela and Soldado ahead of the likes of Eriksen and Adebayor? After the season those players have had? Right!

Lets be realistic!Next years team should look something like this
Lloris(and a cheap,young,british keeper from the championship)-D.BLIND(Fryers)Vertonghen(Kaboul)ALDERWEIRELD(Chiriches)Walker(Naughton)-Paulinho(Bentaleb)Sandro(Capoue)Eriksen(Holtby)-LALLANA(Chadli)Lamela(Townsend)LUKAKU(Soldado,Kane) Gomes(2-3M),Ekotto(2-3M),Rose(5M),Dawson(8M),Livermore(6M),Dembele(8M),Sigurdsson(8M),Lennon(6M),Adebayor(8M) can be sold

I like and rate Holtby, but the simple fact of the matter is that we have 2 or at most 3 central midfield berths, and we’re trying to give game time to Holtby, Sigurdsson, Chadli, Sandro, Paulinho, Dembele, Bentaleb, Livermore, Capoue, Eriksen and Carroll all to keep happy. We need to sell a couple of these at least and if a suitable offer comes in for Holtby I can see Levy taking it.

I’d keep both Sandro and Capoue as they are two good holding midfielders that we need. Paulinho and Dembele are class as is Eriksen. I’d sell Livermore, loan out Bentaleb and sell one of either Sigurdsson or Holtby. Carroll is a keeper.